Prioritize Kids: Why Ohio’s Budget Must Restore Support for Families, Child Care, and Health

By Troy Hunter, Managing Director of Policy

Follow Troy on LinkedIn.

Note: the following testimony about Substitute House Bill 96 was written and delivered by Troy Hunter before the Ohio Senate Health Committee on May 13, 2025.

Chair Huffman, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Liston, and members of the committee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Troy Hunter, and I serve as the Managing Director of Policy at Groundwork Ohio. Groundwork Ohio is the state's leading advocacy organization focused on early learning, maternal, and young child health, supporting the healthy development of Ohio's youngest children, prenatal through age five, and their families. We work alongside policymakers, business and community leaders, early childhood professionals, and families to build a stronger, more prosperous future for Ohio.

Today, I am here to respectfully urge you to restore and strengthen critical investments in young children and families within House Bill 96.

Ohio’s Families, Economy, and Future Are at Risk

We appreciate the important commitment that many of you have made to investing in Ohio’s families and workforce. However, the budget as passed by the House falls short of fulfilling that commitment. By cutting core investments originally included in Governor DeWine’s proposal, the House version leaves behind our youngest Ohioans at a time when families, employers, and communities are calling for greater support.

The need is urgent:

• One in five Ohio children under age five live in poverty, and one in ten lives in extreme poverty.

• More than a third (34%) of parents with young children struggle to pay rent or their mortgage; nearly half (47%) are struggling with credit card debt.

• Inflation is forcing 82% of parents of young children to cut back on groceries, basic necessities needed for healthy child development.

• Recent data indicate it costs $297,675 to raise a child over 18 years, according to Lending Tree. This is a 25.3% increase over similar data available as recently as 2023. [1]

When families struggle, Ohio’s economy struggles. And when young children lack access to health care, safe housing, high-quality early learning, and family stability, we all pay the price in lost potential, lost productivity, and diminished public health.

Working Families Need a Child Tax Credit

The financial pressures facing Ohio families reflect the daily reality for working parents across our state. These challenges strain family stability and limit parents’ ability to participate in the workforce or invest in their child’s healthy development. That’s why policies like a refundable Child Tax Credit are essential not just to alleviate hardship, but to drive economic mobility and statewide prosperity. We must restore the proposed refundable Child Tax Credit, which would provide up to $1,000 per child under age 7 for working families.

Ohio voters overwhelmingly support this solution:

• 84% support creating a Child Tax Credit, including 83% of Republicans, 78% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

A Child Tax Credit would reduce financial stress and directly stimulate Ohio’s economy by helping families afford basics like rent, groceries, and child care. We urge the committee to support amendment SC0572 and restore the child tax credit, as introduced.

Access to High-Quality, Affordable Child Care

Child care is a workforce issue and an economic imperative. New research released by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce earlier this month highlights the magnitude of the problem: Ohio loses $5.48 billion annually in lost economic activity and $1.52 billion in lost tax revenue due to child care barriers.

The cost of center-based child care in Ohio has seen a dramatic rise over the past three years. In 2023, for center-based care, annual infant care averaged $12,351, annual toddler care averaged $11,125 and annual preschooler care averaged $9,580, up to a 23% increase from 2021.

The burdensome cost of child care is preventing more mothers from entering the workforce and child care expenses force many families to make difficult financial decisions. Over six out of every ten non-working Ohio moms with children under age 6 would return to work or work more hours if they had access to affordable quality child care.

Yet under the House budget:

• Eligibility for Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC) remains capped at 145% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), leaving Ohio near the bottom nationally.

• Over $200M in dollars cut from child care.

• The Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, the only statewide tool for understanding child development at school entry, has been eliminated.

At a time when only 35.4% of Ohio kindergartners are demonstrating readiness for school, these are steps in the wrong direction. We ask that this committee put families first by supporting amendment SC0460 to restore initial eligibility for PFCC to 160% FPL and support amendment SC0459 to restore the additional $25M to the Child Care Choice Voucher Program.

Why the KRA Must Be Restored

The KRA is Ohio’s only statewide, child level tool that measures how prepared every kindergartner is across four domains: social emotional development, language and literacy, mathematics, and physical wellbeing.

• Tracks Return on Investment. Policymakers and taxpayers can see whether public dollars for child care, preschool, and home visiting programs are improving outcomes statewide and in local communities.

• Identifies Delays Early. The KRA highlights gaps among student groups, allowing districts to direct resources before small differences become entrenched achievement gaps.

• Predicts Later Success. Children who enter kindergarten demonstrating readiness are nine times more likely to score proficient or higher on the third-grade Ohio State Test in mathematics and seven times more likely to do so in English Language Arts [2]

Eliminating the KRA would leave Ohio without a critical early indicator of student progress, making it harder to identify learning gaps and invest in the supports that children need most. Nearly 4 out of 5 low-income children in Ohio are not demonstrating kindergarten readiness. We need to double down on early literacy, not walk away. We ask you to support amendment SC0456 and restore the KRA.

Improving Health Outcomes for Moms and Babies

The health and well-being of Ohio’s youngest children are inseparable from the health of their mothers. Yet today, too many moms and babies in Ohio face preventable risks simply because they lack access to the supports and services that promote healthy pregnancies, safe births, and strong starts to life. Unfortunately, the House-passed budget threatens to reverse progress by cutting key initiatives that protect mothers and babies at a time when Ohio’s maternal and infant health outcomes already lag behind much of the nation.

We cannot afford cuts to maternal and infant health programs:

• Ohio’s infant mortality rate is 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to a national average of 5.6.

• Maternal mortality has increased by 17% over the past decade, despite most pregnancy-related deaths being preventable.

• Families who participate in Home Visiting are 60% less likely to experience infant loss.

• 15,000 less children served in Home Visiting due to cuts

• Only 8.8% of eligible families are served by home visiting programs that can prevent child maltreatment and support healthy development.

Yet the House budget eliminates or reduces funding for:

• Home visiting expansion ($22.5 million cut)

• Infant vitality efforts (reduces by $2M and $2.1M each FY)

Protect Medicaid Coverage and Expanding Access to Services

Substitute House Bill 96 removes existing law requiring the Ohio Department of Medicaid to provide continuous Medicaid coverage for eligible children from birth through age three. We ask you to adopt amendment number SC0457 to remove the House’s repeal of this law.

Additionally, it restricts access to evidence-based services like doulas for Medicaid-eligible mothers, despite clear data showing doulas improve birth outcomes and lower costs. We ask this committee to support amendment SC0461 to remove the restriction on Medicaid reimbursement for doulas to only six counties.

Supporting Ohio’s youngest children is not just the right thing to do, it is one of the smartest economic investments we can make. The policies we advance today will determine whether Ohio families, communities, and businesses can thrive tomorrow. We urge you to restore the Governor’s vision for a children’s budget, and in doing so, ensure that Ohio’s youngest children and their families remain at the center of our state's future.

Groundwork Ohio seeks your support for HEALTH Amendments:

• SC0456 (Health: Restore the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment the House removed

• SC0457 (Health): Remove the House’s repeal of existing law that would require Ohio Dept of Medicaid to seek approval for continuous coverage of Medicaid enrollment for Medicaid-eligible children birth through age three

• SC0458 (HEALTH): Restore As Introduced investments in Help Me Grow and Infant Vitality.

• SC0459 (HEALTH): Restore additional $25M in FY 27 from As Introduced in Child Care Choice Voucher Program.

• SC0460 (HEALTH): Restore As Introduced language expanding Publicly Funded Child Care Eligibility to 160% FPL for initial eligibility and 300% for continued eligibility

• SC0461 (HEALTH): Removing restriction of Medicaid reimbursement for doulas to only 6 counties.

• SC0572 (HEALTH): As introduced version restore child tax credit.

Thank you for your time and your commitment to Ohio’s children. I welcome any questions you may have.

[1] McGrath, M. (2024, April 23). Raising a child costs nearly $240K — and that's before college. LendingTree. https://www.lendingtree.com/debt-consolidation/raising-a-child-study/

[2] Ohio Department of Children and Youth. (2024). Impact Brief.

To view the attachments that accompany this testimony, click here.

Attachments:

• Groundwork Ohio’s comprehensive Budget Priorities for FY 26 & 27.

• A copy of the polling memo that is the source for all poll data used in this testimony. To view additional polling data, visit www.groundworkohio.org/poll.

• Columbus Dispatch Article “The American Dream in Ohio depends on stronger Buckeye families”

To explore the full findings on how child care challenges are impacting Ohio’s economy and workforce, view the Untapped Potential in Ohio report.

To learn more about the data sourced in this testimony on the needs of young children and families, view Groundwork Ohio’s Early Childhood Data Dashboard 2025.